


private/public

by dissemble



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Professors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29478375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dissemble/pseuds/dissemble
Summary: In which Eren and Armin are professors, and Eren maybe sneaks into Armin’s lectures.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Eren Yeager
Comments: 14
Kudos: 104
Collections: Twitter Eremin Week 2021





	private/public

**Author's Note:**

> hi, this was written for day 2 of twitter’s eremin week, for the professions prompt! i am a college student who copes by writing immature, late twenties/early thirties eremin.
> 
> i tried my best to mimic the zoom message system, but it is truly a mouthful to type lol. i'm sorry for any formatting issues. this was super rushed and is unedited, but i figured someone would like it! 
> 
> literally wrote this fic like i would a paper aka i started it the night before it was due blows kisses.

The lecture has barely started when Eren’s laptop manages to finally connect, his apartment’s shoddy Wi-Fi not doing him any favors. He frowns at that; given that he lectures two times a week for two different courses, he really can’t be taking his chances with his internet connection. He makes a note to have it checked out later in the week.

For now, he turns his camera on and settles in to listen as Professor Armin Arlert starts greeting his students by name and asking how they are doing.

This must be Eren’s fifth time joining in on one of Armin’s lectures. Though they were professors of different fields, they had had a few run-ins at interdepartmental meetings and had even co-lectured at a few conferences together. With Eren’s research focused on the translation of chemical activity in the amygdala to behavior and Armin’s based on the effectiveness of parental disciplinary methods, the two had made for a great team in bridging the connection between pure science, humanities, and the combined effect on human behavior. 

Despite their seemingly frequent professional encounters, Eren had yet to catch Armin in a setting other than one in front of other researchers and faculty members. The other man had interested him greatly; his passion for his field had been reflected in his detailed presentations and constant questions. He had been given the impression that Armin was the type to go out of his way to learn as much as possible.

His suspicions were proven correct when he had gone to check their university’s Department of Human Development’s faculty and staff page after their first co-lecture—the man had managed to complete a double major in human ecology and psychology before moving on to complete his master’s and doctorate degrees. 

Since then, Eren had been meaning to ask Armin out for coffee, to get to know him outside of their brief meetings on how they would handle their next conference. Unfortunately, the closest he could get to seeing Armin outside of their usual academic check-ins was through an undergraduate Zoom lecture, one which he had immaturely forced one of his lab assistants to give him the code to. 

He listens on as the man discusses the overwhelming evidence against the use of physical punishment. Eren’s already familiar with the information, especially after several months of working with the other professor, but the way Armin speaks seems to demand attention in the gentlest way.

His passion for the field is palpable to everyone who hears him speak, even through tinny microphones and pixelated screens. His confidence when talking had been what had drawn Eren to him in the first place; it was hard to find academics who were equally as devoted to their presentation demeanor as they were their research. Eren wants to hear more of what Armin has to say, only now, he wants to listen to the man talk about his personal interests, his life, and even his strangest lecture horror stories. 

At the moment, though, he’s content with listening to statistics, logic, and case studies.

Armin closes his lecture with twenty minutes left until its scheduled end. He gives the students a couple of prompts to discuss as an extension of their weekly reading and then dismisses them into their independent groups. Eren goes to scroll through his email, choosing a few to start responding to as he waits for the twenty minutes until the end of the meeting to pass. He figures he’ll blend in with the undergraduate teaching assistants still present in the main room.

He isn’t expecting to hear the notification sound of a private message.

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him): (Privately)_ **

_Dr. Jaeger! I didn’t realize our next meeting was scheduled at the same time as my lecture!_

Eren freezes as he reads the message; after having been secretly attending the lectures for the past couple of weeks with no incident, he had figured he would be able to get away with it without getting caught. 

He hears a small laugh come through his headphones, and he’s quick enough to look up to see a bespectacled Armin with a hand covering his mouth. Armin’s microphone icon changes to its muted version. 

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him): (Privately)_ **

_Sorry, your reaction was too funny._

Eren feels his ears go red. He moves to respond to Armin.

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_Damn, I thought I’d get away with it._

_Call me Eren. You sound like Smith when you call me so formally. I always feel like I’m about to get lectured._

Dr. Erwin Smith, the dean of the university’s college dedicated to the sciences, was the only one to call Eren by his professional moniker. All of Eren’s colleagues, and even his students, either referred to him by just his last name and occasionally his first name.

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him):_ **

_I have a keen eye, Eren._

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_How come you’ve never called me out the other times, then, Dr. Arlert?_

Eren sees Armin pause and furrow his eyebrows in what he can only assume is confusion. He smirks.

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him):_ **

_Well, you know I do have a class to teach during this time._

_I can’t see what happens every second of the hour, something’s bound to slip my attention._

_And please. Armin._

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_Like that kid who was cooking pasta while you were talking about the Durrant-Ensom study?_

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him):_ **

_No, I definitely saw that._

_How’d you even manage to join my lecture? I’ve never asked you to guest speak for this course._

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_Caught one of my undergrad lab TAs watching your lecture while we were setting up for a video._

_Saw it was one of your lectures and asked her for the access code._

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him):_ **

_And she just gave it to you?_

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_She knows we lecture together sometimes._

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him):_ **

_I have to be stricter about that in the future. Didn't think I’d need to include that in my syllabus._

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_But then I wouldn’t be able to hear them._

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him):_ **

_You already know half of what I discuss!_

Eren quietly laughs to himself at that, head dropping to his chest. He sees Armin move to cover his own amusement as well. The teaching assistants continue to either talk about their course load or drift in and out of the room, helping the students whenever they call them in.

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_It’s different like this, I feel like I’m learning all over again._

_Your teaching style is really admirable and fun to listen to._

_Please don’t kick me out._

Eren looks up from his keyboard after sending his message. He thinks he sees Armin smile a little, and maybe a blush follows? He can’t tell through the camera quality. 

He watches as Armin moves to respond, how he pauses while typing and pursues his lips as he thinks. His eyes move to the chat once he sees Armin’s hands move away from his keyboard.

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him):_ **

_Thank you. That means a lot coming from you. I also appreciate your teaching style :) Your confidence is refreshing, it’s something I have to work on a bit._

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_You need to give yourself more credit. Your approach and engagement is really impressive. I wish my students would participate as much as yours do._

That was definitely a blush. The sound of a teaching assistant clearing their throat rings through Eren’s headphones.

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_When have you listened to me speak to students? I definitely would have remembered if a non-student (?) joined one of my classes._

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him):_ **

_Ah, I think it was our first meeting, maybe two years ago? Dr. Hange took me to sit in on one of your lectures before they introduced me to you. It was a few months before they told us they wanted us to speak together at that conference over cognition and behavior._

The memory comes back to Eren in little fragments. He remembers Dr. Hange’s enthusiasm when they had introduced him to the slight, blond man; as the head of Eren’s department, Dr. Hange had always been eager to show the continuous intersection of science and humanitarian studies. That was their reasoning for teaming the two up.

Eren recalls that Armin’s hair had been longer then, enough to tie up in a ponytail. He remembers really liking it. 

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_Boston, right? That was… an interesting conference._

It had been Eren’s first one, actually. He loved public speaking and had even debated going into a political science field before he had settled for neuroscience, so it wasn’t as if he had been nervous to speak in front of similar-minded researchers as him.

His partner, on the other hand, had had a rough start. Armin’s eagerness had translated to a few missteps before the start of their presentation. His embarrassment from it had shown through the first few moments of his speech in the form of mispronounced words and pauses.

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him):_ **

_Please, I completely embarrassed myself there._

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_That’s not true._

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him):_ **

_I fell while getting on the stage! And then messed up my introduction!_

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_Okay, yeah._

_But no one would remember that after hearing you actually talk about what we were asked to present on._

_I’m telling you, the way you talk has everyone acting as if they’re moths drawn to a flame._

_Even your students. Really impressive for a 9AM class._

He sees Armin being to type a response, but before he’s able to finish it, one of the teaching assistants starts addressing him.

“Dr. Arlert? It’s almost five minutes until the hour. Do you want me to start calling the students back in, group-by-group?” asks Gabi, judging from her display name.

Armin goes to unmute himself and gives her an affirmative.

**_From Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him) to Jaeger (he/him):_ **

_Stay after I dismiss them?_

**_From Jaeger (he/him) to Prof. Armin Arlert (he/him):_ **

_I’ve got time._

“And, um, Dr. Arlert? I just thought I should let you know that your messages aren’t set to private. If you wanted to disable the chat feature before the rest of the students see. Um, yeah,” murmurs the hesitant girl. 

The two men look at the chat box. While Armin’s initial messages were marked with the words “privately,” Eren’s first response had not been. He sighs defeatedly at his inability to work around the program.

Eren, through the corner of his eyes, catches some of the other teaching assistants struggling to hold in their laughter. Armin’s cheeks are red, displayed prominently in the center of the screen, and Eren knows that if he looks to where his own video is, his face is probably a mirror of Armin’s. 

“Well,” Armin says, clearing his throat, “we’re all still getting used to the program, aren’t we, Dr. Jaeger?”

Eren grimaces at the call out, but nonetheless unmutes himself and answers Armin’s question. 

The laughter of the teaching assistants dies down as the students reconnect to the main room. Armin reminds them of their next assignment’s due date and gives them a rundown about what next week’s lecture will promise, something about exploring the different types of parenting methods. He starts to dismiss them, and as the students leave, they unmute themselves for a brief second or two to say _thank you, Dr. Arlert_ and _have a nice day, Dr. Arlert!_ By the time it’s two minutes past the hour, the two professors are alone in the meeting room.

“That was embarrassing. I am so sorry for that, Armin,” Eren groans, hands nervously gathering his hair and retying it into a loose bun.

Armin’s laugh fills Eren’s ears. “It’s okay. At least some of them will have something entertaining to talk about with their friends.”

Eren grins at that. “I really need to get better at using this. Sometimes I can’t figure out what to do and just have a TA share their screen and lecture from that. Or I just let them go if it gets too confusing.”

“This gives me lots of confidence and reassurance for our scheduled meeting next week, Dr. Jaeger,” Armin teases. 

Eren scoffs. “Obviously I wouldn’t leave during one of our meetings.” 

Armin moves to fruitlessly tuck a strand of short hair behind his ear. He asks Eren about the progression of his research, and if he had found a way to manage a virtual lab for undergraduate students. They drift off into conversation, until Eren’s alarm goes off, signaling the fifteen minutes before the start of the neural systems course he’s teaching. 

He tells Armin so, and as he makes his way to say goodbye and log out, Armin stops him.

“Would you like to reschedule our meeting so that it’s in-person instead? I know the conference is virtual, but I feel as though we can get more done working together in one room rather than struggling with technical difficulties online. Plus, maybe we could get a coffee to-go afterwards?” Armin suggests. 

Warmth fills Eren at the proposition. “Yeah. Yeah, that would be great. Does the same time and date still work?”

Armin agrees. “Of course. I’m excited to get to know you outside of your credentials, Eren.” 

“I am too, Armin.”

“Now you won’t have to sneak into my lectures to hear me talk.”

That draws a laugh out of Eren. “Yeah, okay, I won’t join in on any more of your lectures unless formally invited to do so.”

“I’m serious!” Armin exclaims. “If I see you within the participants panel next week, I’m expecting a personal tuition payment.”

Eren’s alarm rings again. Ten minutes until his class starts. He goes to turn it off and gives Armin a close-lipped smile. 

“I’ll let you go,” Armin tells him warmly. “See you on Wednesday. Enjoy your class.”

“Thank you. And I can’t wait,” Eren says as his parting words.

He disconnects from the call.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope this was slightly enjoyable.


End file.
